Building Understanding and Fostering Empowerment through Technological Interactions

Garrett, Lauretta

Adults Learning Mathematics, v7 n2 p7-22 Sep 2012

This case is part of a teaching experiment that sought to provide insight into how the use of mathematics technology affects the internal mathematical representations possessed by adult developmental mathematics students. Sequences of dot patterns were examined and analyzed by the participant. He then used the algebraic features of a dynamic, interactive geometry software program to graph data describing the functional relationships present in those patterns. Insights about the effect of technological representations on adult students' thinking can be gained from observations of the subject's investigations of that data. Results show that appropriate use of technology can aid adult students in building an understanding of standard representations that is based upon their own thinking and their own choices.